Tender – Turning a Design Into Something That Can Be Priced and Built

Receiving planning permission is an important milestone, but it does not necessarily mean that a project is ready to go out to builders for a meaningful price.

Planning drawings are prepared to communicate a proposal. They show what you intend to build and allow the planning authority to assess the development. They are not always intended to answer every question a contractor may have about how the project should be constructed.

This is where many projects can begin to lose clarity.

A homeowner may receive planning permission, approach several builders and ask each of them to price the same set of drawings. But if important details have not yet been resolved, each builder may make their own assumptions about what is included.

One price may include something another has allowed for differently. Materials, finishes, structural elements or construction details may be interpreted in different ways. The result can be a wide range of quotations that are difficult to compare.

The problem is not always the builders or the prices. Sometimes, the information being priced simply leaves too much open to interpretation.

A tender package is about reducing that uncertainty.

By developing the design further and preparing clear construction and tender information, the aim is to give contractors a better understanding of the project they are being asked to price.

Depending on the project, this may include detailed plans, elevations and sections, construction details, specifications, schedules and other information needed to communicate the intended work.

The objective is not to produce drawings for the sake of producing drawings.

It is to resolve the project before construction begins.

Questions that would otherwise arise on site can often be considered earlier. Decisions about materials, details and how different elements of the project come together can be explored before work starts, when changes are generally easier to manage.

A well-prepared tender package helps ensure that builders are pricing a clearer and more consistent understanding of the same project.

That does not mean every quotation will be identical, nor can drawings remove every unforeseen issue from a construction project. Building work will always involve variables. However, better information can reduce assumptions, make quotations easier to compare and give both the client and contractor a clearer starting point.

At Houssed, we see tender information as the bridge between an approved design and the construction phase.

It is an opportunity to take the ideas developed during the design and planning stages and work through them in greater detail — creating a clearer package of information that can be used to seek prices and move the project towards construction.

Before asking someone to build your project, it makes sense to make sure everyone understands what they are being asked to build.